Craigslist Killer, Philip Markoff Found DEAD, Commits Suicide In Jail Cell

(Associated Press) BOSTON -- Authorities say the former Boston University medical student accused of killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist is dead from an apparent jailhouse suicide in Boston.

Ed Geary, a spokesman for the Suffolk County sheriff's office, says Philip Markoff was declared dead by emergency medical workers at about 10:15 Sunday moing. The body was found in the Nashua Street Jail.

Mr. Geary says no additional information is immediately available, and an investigation has begun.

Mr. Markoff's trial was expected to take place in March.

ABC News summarizes the charges against Markoff:

Markoff was facing a slew of charges stemming from the murder of masseuse Julissa Brisman, an aspiring drug counselor from New York City who was shot dead in her room at the Marriot Copley Place Hotel on April 14, 2009. Brisman had allegedly booked a "sexual release" massage appointment with the BU medical student that day.

Four days earlier, Markoff allegedly bound and robbed a Las Vegas hooker at the Westin Hotel. And on April 16, 2009, police say he attacked and robbed an exotic dancer at a hotel room in Warwick, R.I. All three victims posted erotic advertisements on the online networking site Craigslist.